Republicans driving redistricting prove that they don’t trust Tarrant voters | Opinion
Republicans who want to force through an unprecedented mid-decade redrawing of Tarrant County Commissioners Court precincts are making one thing clear: They do not trust voters to decide who should govern.
And while they might not intend it, two GOP commissioners, Manny Ramirez and Matt Krause, are revealing that the maps commissioners will vote on are blatant violations of federal laws protecting minority voters.
Ramirez and Krause have explicitly stated that their goal in supporting this gerrymander, set for a vote June 3, is to add a Republican seat to the Commissioners Court in place of Precinct 2, the Arlington-based precinct that Democrats have won since 2018.
This is a shocking admission. Blatantly stating that you seek partisan gain through a gerrymanderer’s pen — rather than earning it through the confidence of voters at the ballot box — is outrageously undemocratic. In Ramirez’s case, it is also characteristically condescending.
After all, Ramirez took it upon himself in a recent Star-Telegram guest column to lecture Tarrant residents on the perils of leadership change “without planning.” Here, “without planning” can only be interpreted as leadership change left solely to the will of Tarrant voters. You don’t need to think too deeply to understand how completely un-American that is.
Ramirez and Krause, who discussed the plan at a recent community forum, went out of their way to claim that this attempted gerrymander is politically, not racially, motivated. It’s a clear sign that they know that what they are doing meets every definition of a racial gerrymander — and redistricting with an intent to dilute the power of minority voters is illegal.
A common sight at recent community forums has been opponents of gerrymandering displaying maps that overlay Ramirez’s, Krause’s and County Judge Tim O’Hare’s proposed map lines with the areas of Tarrant County where Black residents are most concentrated. The overlap is undeniable. The new maps seek to “crack and pack” Black voters into a single precinct to dilute their voting power. That is a clear violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.
And so, Ramirez and Krause have resorted to expressing an openly undemocratic, will-to-power justification for preserving Republican seats on the Commissioners Court. In doing so, they attempt to deflect from the charge that they are participating in what is, quite plainly, an illegal racial gerrymander.
Perhaps these Republicans believe voters can no longer perceive their supposed brilliance in office. Therefore, a power transition “without planning” must not be allowed. Perhaps they fear that 2026 will bring a Democratic wave in the wake of glaring Republican failures.
An undemocratic and unprincipled desire to cling to power at any cost may be their objective. But Tarrant residents should have no confusion about the method. It’s staring them in the face—in the map lines and the demographic overlays.
This is, indisputably, a racial gerrymander.
It is illegal.
And it will cost Tarrant dearly, in more ways than one.
